Health Experts Celebrate the Silver Jubilee of First Laparoscopy in India

Laparoscopic surgery or minimal invasive surgery for gall bladder removal was introduced for the first time in France in 1989 and then in India in 1990. The technique began with the treatment of gall bladder removal on May 31, 1990, and is being used today to treat most of the diseases in various specialties. At a conference on Sunday to celebrate the silver jubilee of this first laparoscopic surgery in India, Health Minister J.P. Nadda, experts from all over the country deliberated on an exceptional evolution of a world-renowned surgical technique that has changed and saved millions of lives in India.

Pradeep Chowbey, executive vice chairman of the Max Healthcare and chairman of Max Institute of Minimal Access, Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery in New Delhi who attended the event, said, "Today, laparoscopic surgery is a widely accepted surgical technique that uses small incisions and long pencil-like instruments to perform operations with a camera. Procedures such as hernia repairs, gastric bypass, bowel resection and organ removal are now routinely carried out through laparoscopy and have successfully replaced open surgery as the preferred treatment option for bariatric surgery, gallbladder stones and all types of hernia."

Over the past 25 years, the technique has reduced a patient's stay at the hospital from days to just a few hours. Chowbey, a Padma Shri awardee who has performed nearly 70,000 laparoscopic surgeries so far, said, "Laparoscopy has advanced sufficiently to the extent that it can be repeated for a patient who has undergone a previous laparoscopic operation."

Source: Medindia